The holidays are here, and all around you is bustle and hustle and a wee bit of
chaos – right? It is at my house! So, do yourself a favor and take a few
minutes or a couple of hours or so occasionally and treat yourself to a nice
cup of tea or cocoa, and one of December’s luscious cozy mysteries! What a
great way to distress!!
Plus, wouldn’t a cozy mystery make a great
stocking stuffer for that special
reader in your life?
And there are a great group of books to choose from
this month! Here’s are a
few goodies that I’ve found:
Hardbacks:
FOUL PLAY AT
FOUR: A Lois Meade Mystery #12
By Ann
Purser
Berkley; $24.95
Lois Meade has worked through all the days
of the week, turning up clues and
scrubbing up messes and murderers in the village of Long Farnden. But sleuthing
is rarely a spotless endeavor.
A series of robberies have begun to plague
Long Farnden, and Lois’s own
daughter, Josie, is shaken when a thief makes off with a hundred pounds from
the till in her grocery shop. But before her policeman fiancé can crack the
case, someone cracks Lois’s husband on the head when he interrupts a burglary
in progress. Now Lois—and the besotted Inspector Cowgill—must determine who’s
cleaning out Long Farnden, and clean up after an increasingly violent crime
spree.
THREADBARE: A
Needlecraft Mystery #15
By Monica
Ferris
Berkley; $24.95
When an elderly homeless woman is found dead on the
shore of Lake Minnetonka,
she’s wearing something that holds the key to her identity but also opens up a
mystery. Embroidered on her blouse is her will, in which she bequeaths
everything she owns to her niece—Emily Hame, a member of the Monday Bunch at
Betsy Devonshire’s Crewel World needlework shop!
Emily’s aunt turns out
to be the second homeless woman to be found dead under
mysterious circumstances. It’s up to Betsy to discover the common thread
between the deaths—and to determine if a murderer may strike again.
Paperbacks:
YOU MIGHT AS WELL DIE:
An Algonquin Round Table Mystery #2
By J.J.
Murphy
Obsidian; $7.99
When second-rate illustrator Ernie
MacGuffin’s artistic works triple in value
following his apparent suicide off the Brooklyn Bridge, Dorothy Parker smells
something fishy. Enlisting the help of magician and skeptic Harry Houdini, she
goes to a séance held by MacGuffin’s mistress, where Ernie’s ghostly voice
seems hauntingly real.
DOUBLE
BOOKED FOR
DEATH: A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery (Debut Series)
By Ali Brandon
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99
When transplanted Texan Darla Pettistone
unexpectedly inherits her Great-Aunt
Dee’s Brooklyn bookstore and the apartment above, she’s certain her worst
headache will be dealing the store’s mascot. Hamlet, an oversized black cat
with a personality to match, considers the four-story brownstone to be his own
personal stomping grounds. He has a bad habit of terrorizing customers,
claiming every sunny spot for his own, and, in general, acting like a small
potentate.
The fact that Hamlet is smarter than the average cat makes
dealing with him all the more difficult. But Darla is less sure that a series of
odd incidents in the store—misplaced items, lights going on and off after
dark—is his fault. In fact, the usually skeptical Darla soon finds herself
seriously considering the possibility that her late aunt is now haunting the
place.
Matters come to a head when a bestselling author of young adult
ghostly fiction meets an untimely end during an autographing event at the
bookstore. While the death is officially ruled accidental, Hamlet soon digs up a
clue that seems to indicate otherwise. Now, Darla fears the murderer might be
one of the author’s entourage—or even one of Darla’s own customers—and that she
and her staff are
in equal danger. Hamlet's interfering ways might just help point the paw at the
culprit...that is, if he doesn’t lose one of his own nine lives in the process
of solving the crime.
A COOKIE BEFORE DYING:
A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery #2
By Virginia Lowell
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99
On a
stormy night, Olivia Greyson and her Yorkie discover the body of a man
stabbed to death—which looks suspiciously like the intruder seen fleeing the
local health food store The Vegetable Plate. Charlene Critch, owner of The
Vegetable Plate, has a grudge against Olivia’s cookie cutter shop, but could
Charlene be hiding a secret serious enough to kill for?
GHOUL INTERRUPTED: A Ghost Hunter Mystery #6
By Victoria LaurieObsidian; $7.99
M.J. Holliday and her
crew interrupt the frantic schedule of their reality TV
show, Ghoul Getters, and hotfoot it to New Mexico, where a dreadful demon is
waging tribal warfare. Same Whitefeather—M.J.’s spirit guide—urgently needs her
help to stop this evil spirit from wiping out the descendants of his tribe. It
doesn’t take a psychic to predict that M.J.’s going to have a devil of a time
making New Mexico a demon-free zone.
THE COCOA
CONSPIRACY: A
Lady Arianna Regency Mystery #2
By Andrea
Penrose
Obsidian; $7.99
Lady Arianna’s gift of a rare volume of
botanical engravings to her husband,
the Earl of Saybrook, has something even more rare hidden inside—sensitive
government documents which would mark one they hold dear as a traitor of King
and country. To unmask the villain, they must root out a cunning conspiracy—
armed only with their wits and expertise in chocolate.
THE LAST WORD: A Books
By The Bay Mystery #3
By Ellery
Adams
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99 Reprint
Olivia Limoges and the Bayside Book Writers are excited about Oyster Bay’s
newest resident: bestselling novelist Nick Plumley, who’s come to work on his
next book. But when Olivia stops by Plumley’s rental she finds that he’s been
strangled to death. Her instincts tell her that something from the past came
back to haunt him, but she never expects that the investigation could spell
doom for one of her dearest friends...
BUTTONS AND BONES: A
Needlecraft Mystery #14
By Monica
Ferris
Berkley Prime Crime $7.99
Helping friends renovate their
summer cabin, Betsy uncovers a human skeleton
hidden in the walls. It appears to be the body of a Nazi soldier—perhaps from
the WWII POW camp that once operated not far from town. Stitching together the
scant evidence, Betsy is determined to solve the murder—no matter how long ago
it may have happened.
DEAD BOLT: A Haunted
Home Renovation Mystery #2
By Juliet
Blackwell
Obsidian; $7.99
Turner Construction’s latest restoration
project is a historic Queen Anne
Victorian in San Francisco. This time general contractor Mel Turner has to work
around the owners who insist on sticking around—along with some ghosts that
insist in their own way that the work stops...
The ghosts aren’t the only
ones standing in the way of the renovations. A crotchety neighbor, Emile Blunt,
secretly wants this house, and could be behind some of the disturbances. But
when Emile is found dead, it’s Mel who appears guilty. Now she must restore the
building—and her reputation—before it’s too late.
A SPIRITED GIFT: A
Missing Pieces Mystery #3
By Joyce
and Jim Lavene
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99
As the mayor of Duck, North Carolina, Dae is playing host to twenty
North Carolina elected officials attending her first Mayors’ Conference Weekend at
the Blue Whale Inn. When the body of Mayor Sandi Foxx is discovered the morning
after a severe storm, Dae receives a vision through the mayor’s ring; that
there’s a killer among the guests who’s as deadly as any hurricane.
CROPS AND ROBBERS: A
Farmer’s Market Mystery #3
By Paige Shelton
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99
Bailey’s Farmer’s Market is all abuzz with the
impending visit of the Central
South Carolina Restaurant Association. Becca is quite excited, especially since
her parents are visiting. But when the president of the Association vetoes
Becca’s strawberry preserves, she finds herself reeling from the snub. After
pulling herself together, Becca heads home, only to find the president’s body
in her kitchen and her mother with bloody hands. Now, Becca has to use her
sleuthing skills to get her mom out of this terrible jam...before she winds up
preserving in prison.
Wishing all of you a very Happy Holidays, and as
always, Happy Reading, Ya’ll!
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